What They Took
by f-romanoff-13
Summary: Tony, Steve, Bruce and Thor work hard to get their friends back, and when they finally find them, all is not what it seems...
1. Chapter 1

Natasha and Clint had been missing for almost three months.

They'd been sent in undercover, and after some bad intel; they walked right into a trap.

Clint was captured first, and Natasha, refusing to leave her partner behind; went back in for him. That was the last shield had heard from them; their comms went offline, their trackers went dead and they seemingly disappeared...

Tony, Steve, Bruce and Thor had been sent to follow various leads over the months, while shield had teams all over the world searching for them, but nothing ever came from their efforts.

The council had all but given them up for dead and ordered Fury to stop searching.

Tony didn't give up though; he knew it'd have to be someone big for them to take out Hawkeye and Black Widow. Someone would want to take credit if they'd taken out two of The Avengers; they'd want to show off, brag. But no one was claiming responsibility, which made him think they were still alive, that something more was going on...

"Cap, I think I've got something"

"How sure are you?"

"Pretty sure"

"Where we going this time?"

"Argentina"

**XxX**

It was a small abandoned research facility just on the outskirts of Buenos Aries.

"You really think this is it?" Steve asked, he was doubtful; they'd searched twenty seven building just like this across twenty three countries over the past few months; some on shields recommendations, most from Tony's research, but they still had nothing. He knew Tony was desperate to find them, they all were; but uncertainty was playing on his mind

Tony nodded, determined

"We've come all this way... We might as well" Bruce offered from behind them

"I am in agreement" Thor stated. "Today may be the day we have our friends returned to us"

Steve nodded;

"Thor, you and I will take the basement and the first floor, Tony and Bruce take the top two floors; keeps comms open and be careful"

The door opened into a large, empty room; covered in dust, it was clear no one had been here in years. But they searched on anyway, hope forcing them to continue.

Little did they know in a small concealed room on the first floor there was a team of men watching their every move.

"Wait a minute; I want to see this" their boss told them, glaring at the men in the back who'd made a move towards the door.  
"This could be interesting..."


	2. Chapter 2

_This fic has been cross posted from my AO3 account, where I posted the first chapter all the way back on new years day. I had a very definite idea of where this fic was heading back then, but I couldn't decide how to write it and it just sat there for months waiting..._  
_I've complete changed the story from what I initially set out to write, but here is the next chapter, and I hope you all like it_

* * *

Steve and Thor searched the first floor, finding nothing but dusty rooms and abandoned equipment. Steve picked up one of the research files off the desk; a file that contained research looking into the super serum, and data which looked like whoever had been working here was getting close...

"Hey Tony, how'd you find this place again?" Steve asked into his com

**"The** research facility was funded by Hydra. They shut down about six months ago but the building still been draining energy; I thought it might be worth looking into. Why? You got something?"

"Just some research, it might be worth taking some of this back with us. If nothing else, we can't let this fall into the wrong hands "

"Roger that, we'll clear it out of there once we've completed the search"

Steve kept the file in his hands as they carried on through empty room after empty room

"This floor is empty" Thor summarised, leading the way down towards the basement

**XxX**

In the small concealed office at the back of the first floor, a group of terrorists and scientists had gathered, hiding, as the four superheroes had approached

"Sir, they're heading to the basement" one of them told their boss worriedly as he closely monitored the Avengers' movements on the security system

"It is okay, perhaps we need to accelerate to the next stage of our plan"

"But sir, the experiments were incomplete on the-"

"It matters not, we have the data we need, let's see how it turns out"

**XxX**

The basement was dimly lit with just a few flickering lights. Steve followed Thor down the corridors, once again searching empty room after empty room.

The guilt Steve felt was slowly beginning to weigh him down again. When Clint and Natasha had first gone missing he'd blamed himself. They were part of his team and he hadn't been there when they'd needed him. Now, almost three months later, he was still letting them down...  
He knew his team wouldn't hold it against him, he knew even Clint and Natasha wouldn't, but he still couldn't let the feeling of guilt go.

One more room; that's all they had left, one more empty room and they could go meet up with Bruce and Tony again, head home and continue to search...

But that last room wasn't empty, inside that last room they found a cell

Thor noticed it first, darting forward eagerly, hopes rising that he'd finally found his missing teammates.

Clint looked up from where he sat on the floor of his cell. He was cold, hungry and tired; not in the mood to be poked at again by those annoying scientists. But when he saw Steve and Thor approaching him, he almost couldn't believe it. It had been so long, how long exactly he wasn't sure, but a few months at least had passed since he'd last seen them.

"Friend Clint!" Thor boomed, a huge grin spreading over his face at finally finding him. Steve ran over, almost as much disbelief present on his face as Clint was sure he wore on his own

"Clint, are you alright?" he asked, taking in the archers appearance; he looked like he hadn't eaten or slept properly since he'd gone missing; dark circles were clearly evident under his eyes, scars littered his arms and chest; cuts and burns, raw and barely healed.

"Did you find Tasha?" he asked desperately, standing back while Thor hit the lock of the cell with Mjolnir

"No, not yet" Steve admitted, "But Tony and Bruce are searching the upper floors"

"We gotta go" Clint said determinedly, walking forward with more determination his frail body looked capable of

"Clint what happened to you?" Steve asked, strolling after him

"I'll tell you everything when we've got Nat and we're out of here"

"But-"

"I promise Steve, I just, I wanna go home"

Steve looked into his friends stormy grey eyes, and decided the story could wait.

**XxX**

Up on the second floor, Bruce and Tony had reached the final room, which just so happened to be locked

"Well this looks promising" Bruce mused as he stood back, allowing Tony to blast the door open

The room was set up like an operating room; bright lights, white walls and lots of surgical equipment.

Natasha was in the center of the room, strapped to a metal surgical table, unconscious and attached to various pieces of medical equiptment

Tony shot an uneasy glance towards Bruce, who instantly ran over to check her vitals

Her pulse was low, drastically so, as was her blood pressure. The only way he knew she was actually even breathing was because she was intubated and the machine was doing it for her

"How do we move her?" Tony asked

Bruce just shrugged; "I don't know what this is" he said indicating to the liquid currently running through the drip feeding into Natasha's hand, "it could be making her worse, or it could be making her better"

"Bruce, Tony; we've got Clint" came Steve's voice over the coms

"And we've got Nat... Sort of" Tony answered


	3. Chapter 3

"Where's Tasha?" Clint demanded, heading up the stairs to the first floor

"She's upstairs, but we can just meet the others at t-"

"Tell them not to touch her, it's important!" Clint instructed Steve, who did as he was asked with a confused look on his face

Clint ran up the stairs, continuing up to the second floor when Steve didn't stop him on the first

"Tony? Bruce?" he shouted out, in a hurry to reach them

"In here" came Tony's reply from the room down the hallway, Clint sprinted in that direction, closely followed by Steve and Thor

"Holy shit Barton, are you okay?"

Clint ignored Tony's question, gazing at his partner. He was too late

"We've got to get out of here before they decide they don't want us to leave" Clint told the others, beginning to unhook the machines from Natasha

"Clint, what's going on?" Bruce asked, referring to the drug currently being given to Natasha

"Leave it, she needs to get the full dose or it'll be worse"

"Clint I-"

"Trust me, okay. Just, let's all get back to the tower, and I'll tell you everything"

Bruce helped Clint unhook her from the machine, leaving only the drip and intubation tube in place;

"How do we do this?" he asked, referring to the machine that was stabilising her breathing

"You come in the jet?" he asked, to which Bruce nodded.

"Well then we get back there before she stops breathing altogether"

"Clint wait-"

"There's no time Stark. They may have let you in, but they may not be so keen for you to walk back out. Especially with their latest experiment"

Tony looked back at him with mild surprise hidden under his helmet

"You ready?" Bruce asked

"I'll get her" Steve nodded, taking a place by her side

"No it's okay, I've got her" Clint informed him, gathering his partner in his arms as Bruce took out the tube that was keeping her lungs working.

Steve watched uneasily as Clint headed towards the stairs; although he wasn't showing it, he looked badly hurt  
Bruce followed closely behind Clint, holding the bags of drugs still being given to Natasha. He watched Clint closely, watching for any signs he was about to stumble and fall, but he didn't. Clint moved swiftly towards the exit, clutching Natasha in his arms and his team right behind him.

**XxX**

Back in the concealed office, the agents and scientists watched as the Avengers left with the project they'd been working on and guarding for the past three months

"But sir-"

"Leave it Jones, this should be interesting..."

**XxX**

The team made it back to the jet without incident. Bruce rehooked Natasha up to a ventilator and monitored her closely; her sats were low and she was bradycardic, but she was doing okay.

"You're sure she needs this?" Bruce asked, uneasily. Allowing her to receive a dose of drugs he didn't know anything about wasn't sitting well with him

"Trust me, once it's started; it needs to finish" Clint informed them as Steve flew them back to the tower.

It felt strange for Clint, to be back in their company, to walk back into the tower he called his home; it was so familiar yet so alien at the same time...

"Come on Clint, explain?" Tony prompted once they reached the safety of the tower

Clint didn't want to go into it, but knew he owed them an explanation

"Three months ago me and Nat were sent in to try and recover some data AIM had been collecting... But our intel was crap, we were compromised and the whole thing turned to shit. Natasha managed to get out, but she came back when I didn't show at the evac" Clint sighed, looking over to her lay unconscious in Bruce's medical bay

"They flew us out of Mexico, and that was the last time I saw her and until today, I didn't even know if she'd survived..."

"Clint, what are they testing?"

"AIM bought out Zeritech, a company that were doing research into pain medication. The experiments weren't successful, but AIM thought they could use the data and manipulate it. They've created a drug treatment to make people immune to pain, with plans to sell it to the highest bidder; they've got terrorist cells, dictators and corrupt politicians bidding more than the US Army or health services could ever pay. It's sort of an alternative to the super serum, if you can't be invincible, you might as well not feel the damage that's been done"

"That's what they've given to Natasha?" Bruce asked

"Who better to test it on than the two must human Avengers?" Clint muttered sarcastically

"Wait, two?"

"I had the treatment last month, I was the first to survive" he admitted, glancing once again over to Natasha

"The first? How many-"

"I saw about seven men tested on that died before the treatment protocol was over, but I'd put money on the fact there were a lot more before"

"What does this protocol entail?" Tony asked, not entirely sure he wanted the answer

"You don't want to know"

"But, Natasha-"

"Natasha's reached the final stage; she just has to survive long enough for the drug to take effect"

"Clint, let me take a look at you?" Bruce asked gently, sensing the conversation was now over. Tony headed over to sit by Natasha, as Steve and Thor looked at Clint with concern written all over their faces

"I'm fine Bruce"

"No, you feel fine. But you're bruised to hell, cut to pieces and could have any number of broken bones... They clearly tested your immunity to pain, and not in a pleasant way"

Clint groaned, but let Bruce run his tests. All his bloods came back normal, there was nothing traceable about the drugs that Bruce could see. A few broken ribs; as well as some broken fingers, burns and lacerations that needed bandaging, and some recently healed (or healing) bullet and stab wounds but nothing life threatening.

"Does Shield know we're back?" Clint asked once Bruce's examination was finished

"I've informed Hill, why?" Steve answered

"Does she know about the drugs? That we both received the treatment?"

"No not yet, I was going to explain it all in debrief"

"Don't"

"Why not?"

"I trust Hill, but she has a duty to report this, and I know Shield has been looking into a super serum-type alternative, that's why they sent me and Nat in, I don't want them treating us like lab rats"

"You know Fury would never-"

"Fury may not, but the council would. They've never been our biggest fans..."

"Fury may not what?" came a voice from the entrance to Bruce's lab. The five men turned to see Nick Fury and Maria Hill stood there, listening.


End file.
